Effects of rainfall characteristics and micrometeorology on rainfall redistribution within Chinese red pine forest

The objective of this study was to understand the effects of rainfall characteristics and micrometeorology on rainfall redistribution within Chinese red pine (or Pinus tabulaeformis) forest.During growing seasons of 2006-2008, gross rainfall, throughfall, stemflow, and micrometeorology were directly observed from a naturally generated secondary coniferous forest in Qinling Mountains, China.Correlation and multiple regression methods were used to examine the relationships among those measured parameters.Results show that the rainfall class is the most important factor in rainfall partitioning.A positive correlation exists between the dependent variable throughfall and each of the following independent variables including rainfall, the interaction terms of rainfall and rainfall duration, and relative humidity.A negative correlation exists between throughfall and the rainfall duration, also between throughfall and temperature.The stemflow was positively correlated with rainfall, interaction terms of rainfall and temperature, negatively correlated with air temperature.There were positive correlations between interception loss and rainfall, rainfall duration, and temperature.There were negative correlations between canopy interception loss and the interaction terms of rainfall with rainfall duration, air temperature.Non-significant correlations were found between throughfall, stemflow, and interception loss with antecedent dry time, wind direction, wind speed, photosynthetic available radiation, and net radiation, respectively.